Mailbag: Placed hives help control bees at Landmark

We live at the Huntington Landmark. We love the landscaping, especially the flowering trees and bushes. We even love the bees.

The bees are here at Landmark because of all the plants and flowers, many of which would not exist without the bees. The bees are not here because of the hives. The bees would be here without the hives, because they would be building their own under the eaves of the garages, up in the trees, under the roof of some unsuspecting resident's patio or in other unwanted places.

If you lean over to get a close look at the beautiful flowering bushes, you will see many bees busy at their jobs of pollination and honey production.

If the bees are threatened or disturbed, they may try to protect themselves by stinging. But remember, the more aggressive flying insects like yellow jackets, wasps and hornets sting too. The man-made beehives provide a controlled place for the bees to live and do their work.

We cannot get rid of the bees unless we want to get rid of the plants they pollinate. Be happy the man-made hives exist, because if they did not the bee-built hives might be right next to your condo or garage. The man-made hives actually keep us safer from bees, because they are high in the air and the bees fly up to the hives rather than staying closer to the ground, where they might encounter a human or dog.

You could more easily get stung by brushing against a flowering bush.

Margaret Van Dyke

Huntington Beach

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Global warming is a real threat

Re. "Rohrabacher dismisses global warming, warns of China,"(Aug. 10): Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) considers global warming a total fraud. The real fraud is that perpetrated by Rohrabacher and well over half of his Republican colleagues in Congress who deny that the climate is getting warmer and that human activity is one of the causes.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in its 2012 State of the Climate Report, a peer-reviewed analysis by some 380 leading scientists, found that last year was the warmest on record, that sea levels continue to rise, arctic sea ice is quickly disappearing, and carbon pollution continues to increase.

The climate-change deniers will respond that not all climate scientists agree — in fact, 3% disagree. But unlike a jury in a criminal case where one member can cast a not-guilty vote and free a defendant, science works on the basis of a broad and overwhelming consensus — as is clearly the case with climate change.

When a high-tide storm some years down the road floods Main Street in Huntington Beach, maybe the congressman will wake up — but by then it will be too late.